Thermostats

I picked up a small rack that fits 8 15 qt tubs or 4 32 qt and I was just wondering if you guys had any suggestions for thermostats. I already have it wired for heat.

I've used both Helix and Herpstat, and both are great. The Helix is good for not having to mess much, with only one button to push while the Herpstat is infinitely more tinkerable. All comes down to which someone prefers.

If I had to chose between the two, Herpstat.

I would suggest one of the proportional thermostats. You choices are:

Herpstat,
http://www.spyderrobotics.com/home/products.html

Helix DBS-1000
http://www.helixcontrols.com/

Reptile Basics VE-200 or VE-300
http://www.reptilebasics.com/thermostats

How many pieces of flexwatt do you have installed? We have 2 sheets on our 10 rack bin as the heat is usually lower there. A lot of people do this but a lot of people don't. If Its one sheet than any of the above thermostats are awesome. If its two sheets I would recommend looking at getting the herpstat II, its what we use and its great (it has ND as well which is nice). You can run up to 3 heat sources off of the basic herpstat anyhow, its just nice to be able to up the heat from the bottom one if need be.

Hope this helps.

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Originally Posted by Vypyrz

I would suggest one of the proportional thermostats. You choices are:

Herpstat,
http://www.spyderrobotics.com/home/products.html

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Herpstat!

Depending on what your goals are Herpstat has the product for you. If you are thinking of breeding later on I would get a Herpstat with ND (Night Drop) functionality. If you don't want to use ND you don't have to, but you will have it when you need it.

I thought I would throw out some other options.

Although Herpstats are amazing, they are expensive IMO. I have had absolutely zero problems with my Ranco or Johnsons (basically the same) thermostats. They are around $80 wired. Reptilebasics has always done a great job with them. They recently started making a Vivarium Electronics t-stat for about $5 more. I have yet to try it, but next time I'm in the market for one I'm going to give it a try. Reptilebasics is a great company and I'd like to continue to support them.

I currently only have one strip of heat tape per leve and i'm looking to breed in the further but my females are still very young ( between 78-300g) . Herpstat and helix were definitely ones I was looking at but I just wanted some more opinions.

Reposted on accident

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Originally Posted by eel588

I thought I would throw out some other options.

Although Herpstats are amazing, they are expensive IMO. I have had absolutely zero problems with my Ranco or Johnsons (basically the same) thermostats. They are around $80 wired. Reptilebasics has always done a great job with them. They recently started making a Vivarium Electronics t-stat for about $5 more. I have yet to try it, but next time I'm in the market for one I'm going to give it a try. Reptilebasics is a great company and I'd like to continue to support them.

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Herpstats are 109$. 29$ different personally I'd spend the 30 bucks extra and not need to mess with it.

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Originally Posted by kitedemon

Herpstats are 109$. 29$ different personally I'd spend the 30 bucks extra and not need to mess with it.

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I'm jealous. Here in Toronto Herpstats run as much as 200bucks for the basic model. I just bought my herpstat two for 340 dollars :tears:

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Originally Posted by kitedemon

Herpstats are 109$. 29$ different personally I'd spend the 30 bucks extra and not need to mess with it.

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I don't understand why people have to mess with them? It the 6-7 years I have been using racks I always have perfects temps after setting up my Johnson. I have four of them, no need for me to fix something that isn't broke.

try them in unstable room temps cool ones up down up down made me crazy. The probe response on the johnsons are slower than I'd like

I've lived in four different places and two different states. I guess I'm lucky my room temps don't fluctuate much.

They all do the same, to say you pay extra $30+ cause your getting better is BS. The extra your paying is if its proportioinal or on off. IMO means squat for racks which you use.

They all do the same function of controlling heat, one will control to a more precise temps which is fine for incubators but for racks its not needed.

Every time thermostats are requested on which is good, everyone Jumps on them like they need to spend 120+ or they will end up with a POS one.

I own ONE herpstat for my incubator and 8 Johnsons. One of my Johnsons is going on 8 years old and never one problem. For $88 shipped its the best buy, will do what you need and then some.

IM sorry I had Helix and their garbage, it failed on me non stop or i had to have it set to 98F just to get 89 in the tub. And im not the only one with this problem on helixs. Herpstats are nice but not everyone can drop 130 for thermostats when a $88 one will do what it needs just as well.

In winter time my snake rooms are at 77F and temps dont fluctuate using johnsons at all. Dont let those tell you anything else as it will work just fine.

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Originally Posted by RichsBallPythons

They all do the same, to say you pay extra $30+ cause your getting better is BS. The extra your paying is if its proportioinal or on off. IMO means squat for racks which you use.

They all do the same function of controlling heat, one will control to a more precise temps which is fine for incubators but for racks its not needed.

Every time thermostats are requested on which is good, everyone Jumps on them like they need to spend 120+ or they will end up with a POS one.

I own ONE herpstat for my incubator and 8 Johnsons. One of my Johnsons is going on 8 years old and never one problem. For $88 shipped its the best buy, will do what you need and then some.

IM sorry I had Helix and their garbage, it failed on me non stop or i had to have it set to 98F just to get 89 in the tub. And im not the only one with this problem on helixs. Herpstats are nice but not everyone can drop 130 for thermostats when a $88 one will do what it needs just as well.

In winter time my snake rooms are at 77F and temps dont fluctuate using johnsons at all. Dont let those tell you anything else as it will work just fine.

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Whew, for a second there I thought I was the only one...

Oh look another thermostat debate...

Where did you get your johnson?

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Originally Posted by Grayson09

Where did you get your johnson?

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I've always got mine from reptilebasics.com.

I have three Helix DBS1000 and have never had any issues to date. I think saying Helix is garbage is a bit rediculous.

To each his own on what equipment they choose but don't bash other products because of a particular instance you may have experienced.

Just sayin.....

Rich what is your snake room temps? How much variation do you have daily and summer winter? I see 7 or 8 degrees day/night and 25 summer/winter. Please do not tell me that under those conditions you do not see spikes with any and all on/offs. You do, I promise you, what I posted was in UNSTABLE room temps. They work great in reasonable stable but when it gets cold the probe responding every second is too bloody slow. I used to see spikes up in the 100-110 range and lows in the 82-5 range it simply does not sample fast enough to prevent the cooling and then over shoots trying to get the temps up. Proportional units are more versatile under most conditions they sample many times a second and are able to adjust.

You can speak for your self that is fine, But do not tell me that it works on my rack. 30º ups and downs I cannot live with and unless you have 23000 you want to give me I can't pay to get the bloody seaweed out of the walls! I qualify my statements you have made blanket sweeping statements about conditions you (as you mentioned in other posts) do not have.

On/Off types do not do will in unstable (cool) room temps. Don't take my word for it try it! Stick you rack in a 60ºF room and tell me what temps you have. My herpstats do a amazing job at keeping all three temps perfect (ambient air, warm, and cool) My Johnson did not.

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Originally Posted by RichsBallPythons

They all do the same, to say you pay extra $30+ cause your getting better is BS. The extra your paying is if its proportioinal or on off. IMO means squat for racks which you use.

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I'd actually agree to a point. If you are heating a room to 80ºF or so and it doesn't get below 76ºF an on/off will work just fine. The the johnson and ranco as well as the hydrofarm basically have the same specs so you could get a hydrofarm and save the 50$ odd bucks. They probe accuracy is poor but johnson (and ranco) is specs are the same. Typically the probe is attached to the heat source and the set point does not reflect the temp desired anyway so if it is out a degree or two it doesn't matter. The johnsons case is better everything is better made but they work about the same.

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Originally Posted by Vypyrz

I would suggest one of the proportional thermostats. You choices are:
Helix DBS-1000
http://www.helixcontrols.com/
Reptile Basics VE-200 or VE-300
http://www.reptilebasics.com/thermostats

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X2 :gj::gj: I have one of each and havent had problems with either one of them once set.
I will be getting more of the VE-200s just because I like them a lot more than the Helix, the Helix is just a pain in the butt because the stand it comes with sucks and my racks are almost 5 1/2 foot tall so with it laying on its back I have to pick it up to check it. To some people this is not a big deal but to me it is. The VE has a front read out and you can stack several units on top of each other and still read them.:gj::gj::gj:

As far as "on-off" type I use the Zilla 1000watt units. Everyone calls them junk but again they work great for me, just takes a little longer to dial in.;)

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Originally Posted by decensored

I'm jealous. Here in Toronto Herpstats run as much as 200bucks for the basic model. I just bought my herpstat two for 340 dollars :tears:

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I hate to tell you, but I am in NS, there is no duty on the herpstat as it is made in the USA. I paid a bit in exchange when I bought mine but the shipping was fair. The price now is quite a lot less now the USD is so low. It won't help you now but in the future. i believe in buying local but the price difference was crazy so I bought direct.

I own four Helix and will glady cough up another 140 bucks next time I'm in the market for a thermostat. Contrary to popular belief they are not garbage.